Close Forge complete operating guide

What Close Forge does

Close Forge is the TradeVulcan sales follow-up app for home-service companies that want more open estimates to turn into approved work. It watches compatible CRM activity, qualifies whether an estimate is safe to follow up, sends or queues customer-friendly SMS and email touches, and gives the owner or sales manager a pipeline for every captured opportunity.

The best way to think about Close Forge is simple: it gives your team a repeatable process for the estimates that usually fall through the cracks. The app keeps follow-up timely, polite, measurable, and tied to the actual CRM record instead of relying on memory or scattered spreadsheets.

Owner outcome: every open estimate has a known status, a next action, and a visible history of what Close Forge did or why it stopped.

The Close Forge operating workflow

Phase	Where it happens	Business-owner action
Prepare	Connectors and messaging settings	Connect the CRM, verify email sending, assign a texting-ready number, and complete messaging compliance.
Create	Close Forge app setup	Create a deployment draft, choose a starting template, bind the connector, and set business hours.
Edit	Visual workflow builder	Review each step, adjust delays, filters, templates, and stop conditions, then save the draft.
Test	Builder top actions and bottom tray	Send a test event or message, inspect connector health, and review event history and run logs.
Publish	Builder top actions	Publish the workflow so it syncs to the live campaign engine, then enable the deployment only after readiness passes.
Operate	Leads pipeline	Work the exception queue, review high-value records, and watch conversion from captured to won.
Optimize	Pipeline, contact records, templates, and run logs	Adjust messaging, timing, and review rules based on replies, failures, won work, and customer behavior.

The owner playbook

1. Start with one deployment. Use one CRM connector and one clear business unit or brand first. Do not create multiple live deployments until the first one is stable.
2. Use the unsold estimate workflow first. It is the safest default for recovering recent open estimates.
3. Keep the first touch helpful. Ask whether the customer received the estimate and whether they have timing, scope, option, or scheduling questions.
4. Use SMS carefully. Texting should only run when the workspace has consent, compliance approval, a texting-ready number, and opt-out language.
5. Use email for fuller context. Email is better when you need to include estimate summaries, proof, option comparisons, or longer explanation.
6. Watch the exception queue daily. Failed, blocked, stopped, or skipped records are where revenue and setup issues surface first.
7. Measure conversion weekly. Review captured records, active follow-up, contacted customers, won estimates, lost estimates, and needs-attention records.

What Close Forge can follow up on

Close Forge supports two core workflow templates:

• Unsold estimate follow-up: follows up after a completed job, estimate, opportunity, or CRM update indicates the customer still has open work that is not approved or won.
• Sold lower option / upgrade clarity: supports a more careful, review-oriented touch when the customer accepted a lower option and a higher option may still need explanation.

ServiceTitan deployments use polling reconciliation and ServiceTitan-derived eligible events. Other compatible CRM rails can use estimate webhooks or normalized estimate events when supported.

Daily command center

Recommended operating cadence

Cadence	What to review	Best action
Every morning	Needs attention, failed messages, blocked records, and new captured estimates	Repair setup issues, open important records, and assign human follow-up where needed.
Midday	Active follow-up and fresh replies	Make sure customers who respond are handled by a person quickly.
End of day	Same-day estimate follow-up status	Confirm first touches ran and no high-value estimate is stuck without a next action.
Weekly	Won rate, lost rate, failed rate, reply quality, and message timing	Adjust templates, delays, eligibility filters, and manual review rules.
Monthly	Revenue recovered, source quality, team response quality, and CRM data hygiene	Decide whether to add another deployment, segment by trade, or tune offer language.

Best-practice guardrails

• Do not promise discounts, availability, financing, warranty terms, or technician recommendations unless those details already exist in the estimate or your approved policy.
• Always include opt-out handling for SMS. The default opt-out line should remain clear and simple.
• Use quiet hours and send windows to keep outreach professional.
• Stop follow-up when an estimate is sold, the customer replies, a customer opts out, or another TradeVulcan app recently handled the same lead.
• Use human review for high-value estimates, sensitive option comparisons, or any workflow branch that uses AI-personalized copy.

Related Close Forge docs

• Close Forge setup and go-live checklist
• Close Forge workflow builder and template editing
• Close Forge pipeline, run logs, and optimization